U.S. dollar drop on weak economic data

The U.S. dollar lost against other currencies Thursday as the retail sales data of the country came out worse than expected.

On the U.S. economic front, the advance estimates of U.S. retail and food services sales for January showed a decrease of 0. 8 percent from the previous month, the U.S. Commerce Department said Thursday.

In the week ending Feb. 7, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 304,000, an increase of 25,000 from the previous week's revised level, the U.S. Labor Department said Thursday. The data rose more than expected.

Talks over Greek debt with euro zone finance ministers failed to yield an agreement Wednesday, with negotiations set to continue on Feb. 23.

In late New York trading, the euro gained to 1.1414 dollars from 1.1297 dollars of the previous session, and the British pound increased to 1.5413 dollars from 1.5245 dollars. The Australian dollar went up to 0.7752 dollars from 0.7708 dollars.

The dollar bought 118.86 Japanese yen, lower than 120.29 yen of the previous session. The dollar moved up to 0.9315 Swiss francs from 0.9282 Swiss francs, and it moved down to 1.2481 Canadian dollars from 1.2657 Canadian dollars.